Michele and I bought a bookstore in December 2005. I’m having a blast! I get to work with a staff that is not so much a staff as a large, slightly loopy family; handsell Cold Comfort Farm; meet interesting, eccentric, and annoying people; work with other local merchants; have existential discussions with little kids about Lemony Snicket; play with the toys; and read the books. Michele and our accountant handle the financial end of things, so I don’t have to take to my bed with the vapors too often. I don’t make a lot of money, but the spiritual rewards are without number.
I also loved being the technical writer-editor for 7 years in the waste management group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It was like being paid to eat ice cream.
My favorite job was working in the back of the house (kitchen) in the restaurant at the big outdoor concert pavilion.
We were an upscale restaurant and we only were open for the Cleveland Orchestra performances, which was every weekend in the summer plus the 4th of July and the occasional other show like Jimmy Buffet and Dave Matthews.
The restaurant was open-air and it was basically like working at a camp. The scenery was beautiful and it was both relaxing and rewarding work. We had huuuuge turnover in the short timespan we were open (maybe up to 300 people served in 2 or 3 hours). It was a slow opening, then a seriously mad dinner rush, then a few hours to relax during the show and a less-mad dessert rush and then closing.
I worked with my cousins and a bunch of other cool folks. We drove around in golf carts, played jokes, messed around with the dishwashing hose, smoked a lot and had a lot of fun.
Even though I have my own company now and work at home at a desk all day, I’d go back to this job on weekends in a heartbeat if my family’s company still had the gig!